Weekly Roundup: November 16, 2022

Check out the latest content from Democracy at Work.

New this week: Economic Update, Cities After..., Global Capitalism & Ask Prof Wolff

Check out the latest content from Democracy at Work!

Economic Update: Nomi Prins on the Distorted US Financial System

Prof. Wolff talks about a new Congress report on huge US wealth inequality; Angela Merkel on relying on Russian oil and gas, the irrationality of 20,000 immigrants dumped on NYC, and Harvard exploiting its tax-exempt status. In the second half of the show, Wolff interviews Dr. Nomi Prins, former Goldman Sachs director, on the distorted US financial system and its social effects.

Prins: “Now we're in a situation where on every side people are getting hurt by the institutions like the Fed and also by the supply chains, geopolitics and again, the leverage of those institutions like Wall Street... I don't think people really understand this enough because in the media, the story is, and the allowability to the Fed is, hey, they've got this.”

Cities After…Office Spaces as Homes - Pt. 4: Housing Justice with Cea Weaver

Prof. Robles-Durán talks to Cea Weaver, a prominent housing organizer in New York City who coordinates Housing Justice for All. In 2019, Weaver coordinated a statewide coalition to pass what many consider the most progressive housing laws in recent decades. She is currently working with the City Planning Commission to figure out what to do with vacant office towers and how to facilitate their conversion into affordable housing. Robles-Durán and Weaver speak about Housing Justice for All and what they’re working to achieve, New York’s importance in the history of rent control and tenant organizing, the homelessness crisis, and some of the specific policies and programs Cea is working on implementing.

Weaver: “We are trying in our campaigns, in Housing Justice for All, to move sections of the housing closer towards a fully public, fully commodified, fully funded, resident controlled side of the equation.

Global Capitalism: After the Elections: Now What?

Richard Wolff is here to wrap up your election analysis with a big, red, socialist bow of a lecture that covers the real issues (which were avoided in the elections), one issue that defined the votes this year and the impact of our undemocratic midterms on the whole world.

Wolff: “Where are the proposals in this election?... We really are going to face the issues that have been avoided, but not in this election, not at all. No proposals to choose between. No plans. No announcements by the candidates of a settled program if they get into office one way or the other. Nope, nope, nope. We have an election that avoids, evades, denies.”

Ask Prof Wolff: Fed Reserve Blames Inflation on Workers

A Supporter of Democracy at Work asks Prof Wolff, "It appears to me that the Fed policies, i.e. rate hikes, are being weaponized against us workers for our meager gains in wage increases via union building and the continuing leverage gained through the pandemic. If both sides continue at this pace what do you foresee as the conclusion?"

Wolff: “There you have it: an analysis of inflation that blames the worker, punishes the worker painfully and thereby solves the problem. Nice, neat package except it's wrong. It's wrong on every level of economics, on every level of the empirical record. But it is a useful way to shift blame from those who deserve it to those least able to fight against it, and if that isn't the American way, what is?”

Ask Prof Wolff: MAGA Communism

A Supporter of Democracy at Work asks: "I listen to a lot of podcasts such as yourself to get a broader perspective. I love the clarity you bring to pretty much any subject you discuss. I would like your take on something I've heard recently, that communism is actually conservative fascism. It was in the context of the MAGA Communism narrative that has been discussed and in some cases pushed by creators such as Jackson Hinkle. Is someone trying to rewrite the meaning of communism? Or, did I miss something along the way?"

Wolff: “It's a clever putting together of things that don't fit. It will get you some attention for a while, but there's nothing in Mr. Trump or the MAGA movement that is anything other than fundamentally hostile to almost everything that socialism has meant or could mean.”